Just my $.02, I hope that when they make the next version of the sheevaplug (hopefully sales will justify that) that they will actually open up all the capabilities of the processor. The kirkwood we have in there now is able to do so much more than what they have implemented on the board. I am not saying they need to put the actual interface connections on the board, but maybe terminal strips or such. With SATA, tons of GPIO, a second Gigabit Ethernet, Sound, Video, and more there are plenty of options even using the current chip. The box has enough free room in it too (especially without the dev board itself).

That being said, what HARDWARE features would people like to see in a next generation version?

The link above is not something that is exposed when you visit GlobalScale's website and click "Products"; in fact, the only thing that appears when you click Products is the SheevaPlug and it back-ordered status.

Note: GlobalScale's website is still developing, I had SSL certificate problems, and the shipping window for ordering displayed raw XML.

Given how things change instantly on a web page, I'll post here the specifications blurb from GlobalScale's website as it appears when I placed my order:

eInfochips’ offers “OpenRD-Client” as reference design, which is compact, scalable, low power, RoHS compliant and fan less, allowing one to levarage Open Source development. The reference design is powered by Marvell’s high end 88F6281 general purpose integrated controller.

OpenRD-Client is the same hardware as OpenRD-Base, except OpenRD-Client has additional components and extra capabilities. Thus, OpenRD-Client is superset of OpenRD-Base. OpenRD-Client is best suited for wide range of applications supporting bulk storage, faster connectivity, higher throughput and performance at lower power. It adds a 2D-GPU(Graphics Processing Unit) with a VGA Connector and additional I/Os for expanded capabilities. An "Embedded Client System" solution can be readily assembled with a GbE connectivity, an onboard 2.5" SATA connector and enclosure.

Major advantage of eInfochips’ "OpenRD-Client" is that, it come as complete reference design, which includes board layout designs, software, manufacturing diagnostic tools and documentation to assist customers with product evaluation and production. Hence, the reference designs will help enthusiastic developers and hobbyists to uncover and realize innovative product solution based on Open source platforms.

One can use this reference design to explore the growing market in Education, Home/Enterprise, Financials, Digital Imaging, Industrial Control, Medical / Healthcare and Point Of Sale (PoS). Students can use this board to learn and explore new innovative technology without being restricted to expensive hardware kit, consuming very high power. Learners can showcase their creative efforts on this board and get global recognition from various events. Developers have complete freedom to develop their product exactly as per their specifications and can also collaborate with open source community on realizing new innovative applications.

Thus, this board is extremely useful for those, who would like to take advantage of open standards and applications.Target Markets for OpenRD-Client:

I have a few requests.If you browse through the specifications document on the CPU you see that there's a tun of features not being utilized. I'd love to see the following:

Mbit ethernet portSATA portPCI-Express port

Having all of these features enabled would make, quite possibly, the greatest router ever. The SATA port would allow an onboard hard drive (or SSD/CF card depending upon adapters), the PCI-E port would offer the perfect functionality for a wireless routing setup, and the additional Mbit ethernet interface would allow the thing to connect directly to the internet (acting as a hardware firewall). If you consider the features are already embedded in the CPU, there's no reason not to use them.

Finally, I've got to say the addition of a displaylink chipset would be nice. It would allow those of us who are noobs (sigh) to set the thing up with minimal difficulty, and offer stand alone functionality.

I have a few requests.If you browse through the specifications document on the CPU you see that there's a tun of features not being utilized. I'd love to see the following:

Mbit ethernet portSATA portPCI-Express port

Having all of these features enabled would make, quite possibly, the greatest router ever. The SATA port would allow an onboard hard drive (or SSD/CF card depending upon adapters), the PCI-E port would offer the perfect functionality for a wireless routing setup, and the additional Mbit ethernet interface would allow the thing to connect directly to the internet (acting as a hardware firewall). If you consider the features are already embedded in the CPU, there's no reason not to use them.

Finally, I've got to say the addition of a displaylink chipset would be nice. It would allow those of us who are noobs (sigh) to set the thing up with minimal difficulty, and offer stand alone functionality.

I'd like to see something in the opposite direction of most of the suggestions here. Don't make it more complex, make it simpler. Build in a multi-port USB hub, and let me connect whatever devices that way. If I need storage, I'll plug in a USB memory stick, or a disk drive. There are USB ethernet adapters, wifi, bluetooth, and so on.

With just USB ports, the plug ought to be even less expensive and use less power.